Fashion houses are learning that online video can be a valuable tool in the current media environment. But for a video to stand out, it needs a unique photographic point of view, & higher production values that clients have previously been willing to fund.
Every client doesn't want a commercial, many want a little film to showcase their brand image
Videos shot for fashion clients once meant a low-budget, behind-the-scenes video for a fashion shoot. But many clients are now discovering that a video can generate free publicity and draw viewers to their Web sites without the expense of buying media - as long as it's interesting enough to be picked up by fashion blogs and other online media. If a brand can create something compelling that people want to watch, "people will be aware of your brand". We like other international photographers have landed assignments to shoot stills and video for clients, by pitching them ideas for original stories through stills and video.
"Rather than going to film directors, (clients) are relying on photographers," says Steve Pranica of Creative Exchange Agency, the artists' management and production company that represents many photographers working in film and video. "It's an emerging industry".
We at rdg ( still + motion ) are providing a platform to work on still + motion assignments for client's and pitching new ideas to relate their brand with original stories that showcase in-depth brand culture and its association with its market. Its enough for a brand to put the video on their own Web site because, "You're speaking to the converted." If that's a brand's only use for a video, "There's no justification for a big (video) production." On the other hand, if a video can be embedded in other sites and shared virally through social media and editorial outlets like magazine Web sites and fashion blogs, it can become an integral part of brand's overall communications strategy.
The Fashion Video Market: The Bigger Picture
When fashion brands began hiring photographers to shoot video as well as stills, it was usually "piggybacked primarily for budgetary reasons. The cost wasn't so great when already have the model, hairstylist, etc."says Quynh Mai, the founder of Moving Image and Content, a company that works with photographers to create fashion video for clients like Giorgio Armani, Rock AND Republic, Vyes Sint Laurent, J.Crew and Kate Spade.
The problem is that a combined video/still production takes "a much longer day, lots of overtime, and lots of work."But now the marketing and communications departments of fashion and retail companies are starting to see how high-quality motion content can benefit their brand. For one thing, video gives them a way to communicate with potential customers regularly through their Web sites and social networking sites, " that will then drive the dollars into the production."
But to stand out, videos will need higher production values, and photographers have to deliver a unique point of view. Behind-the-scenes videos of fashion shoots won't cut it. Experts think that consumers don't have an interest in seeing people putting on makeup, or seeing rolling racks or rows of shoes - the have seen so much of that.